I don’t finish enough things.
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Sometimes I don’t finish because the thing just isn’t going well. This would be any novel I’ve started: I love the hazy, indistinct ideas in my head, but I become disillusioned fairly quickly when I see them on paper. I’m not always sure how much of that is the idea itself, and how much is execution. Either way, I’ve started writing lots of books that I’ve never finished.
If a student or a friend said that type of thing to me, I’d have lots of advice. But the advice we have for others rarely works for ourselves, right?
The best advice I’ve heard, though, comes from Seth Godin. He doesn’t believe in writer’s block—or, at least, he diagnoses the block as fear that can be overcome by writing badly. I’m too lazy to look it up right now, but I know that, when people tell him that they have writer’s block, or that they aren’t good enough, etc., he says, “Show me your bad work.”
They rarely have bad work to show. But, except in rare cases, good work only comes after, or amongst, bad work.
Godin recently published The Practice: Shipping Creative Work, a book that takes this issue head on. (One of the book’s sections is entitled, “No Such Thing As Writer’s Block,” for example.) It’s a guidebook to developing a practice of creating things and shipping them—getting them out to the world.
In my case, this might be writing—the blog, certainly, but perhaps more short stories, as well. I’ve also been working, if sporadically, on recording an album, which would benefit from a practice—a way of showing up to work even when I don’t feel like it, or don’t feel inspired, or do feel fear or imposter syndrome, or whatever.
The book consists of 219 very short chapters. The format reminds me of his daily blog, which consists of short posts (anywhere from a sentence to a few paragraphs). My sense is that the book will echo the blog. But his blog is pretty random, whereas this book is organized into ideas: “Trust Your Self,” “Generous,” “The Professional,” and so on.
I figured that I might treat this a bit like “quiet time,” or a “devotional”—a more-or-less daily practice from back in my Christian days. I’ll limit myself to a chapter a day, and pause to figure out what that reading might mean in developing my creative practice.
In the spirit of showing my work, I plan to post often—though not every day, most likely. For one thing, I’m sure I’ll miss a day or three from time to time. But I also don’t need to spend the time reflecting on things that, at least at this point, don’t resonate with me. (This may be obvious, but I’m kind of a completist, which—perhaps ironically, perhaps just stupidly—often leads to my inability to finish things.)
You’re welcome to eavesdrop, of course. Or you can join the conversation—in the comments, or through the Contact form. I’m here to learn.
And who knows: maybe I’ll build a practice that leads to a finished novel someday.
Top photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
This series is meant to capture my thoughts as I work through Seth Godin’s The Practice. It’s a book with over 200 (very short) chapters, which I hope to work through and, I further hope, to implement over time.
If you’re interested in more of Godin’s ideas, or my thoughts about them, you can check out this collection of posts. Note that if you’re more interested in the former, you should probably get Godin’s book and read it yourself; my notes will be both incomplete and idiosyncratic, and my thoughts will relate to my own experience.
But if my thoughts resonate with you, or if you think I’m just silly, I welcome your comments.